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A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 19 OctOber 2019
Marches and strikes rattle Catalonia amid separatist anger

By ARITZ PARRA ment that it had observed
EMILIO MORENATTI "various cases" of "exces-
Associated Press sive" use of police force,
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) "including inappropriate
— Masses of flag-waving and unjustified use of ba-
demonstrators demanding tons and other defensive
Catalonia's independence equipment against people
and the release from pris- who posed no risk."
on of separatist leaders Tourists also felt the turmoil.
jammed downtown Barce- At least two large cruise op-
lona on Friday as the north- erators diverted their ships
eastern Spanish region en- to other ports, and those
dured its fifth straight day of which had already docked
unrest. in the port of Barcelona
More than a half million cancelled their passen-
protesters, including fami- gers' excursions to the city.
lies with children, marched Architect Antoni Gaudí's
in the Catalan capital, ac- modernist Sagrada Familia
cording to local police. also closed its doors due to
Many were clad in pro- a protest blocking access
independence 'estelada' to the basilica.
flags and shouted "Inde- Naoya Suzuki, a 34-year-old
pendence!" and "Freedom Protesters march with a letters reading 'Democracy' on the fifth day of protests over the conviction tourist from Japan, com-
for political prisoners!" of a dozen Catalan independence leaders in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. plained about the disrup-
Some of them had walked Associated Press tions to "people who have
for three days in five mas- crisis in decades. city of Girona, said the con- included torched cars and nothing to do with Spain."
sive "freedom marches" This week's huge show of victions — including fines burning barricades in the "I've had a look at the news
from towns across the support at times turned vio- for three more separatists streets. and I can just about under-
northeastern Spanish re- lent, with some protesters — had soured the political The group appeared on stand why they are angry,
gion. They converged on and riot police fighting run- climate. Sept. 2 and in just over six but not why are they are
Barcelona, a city of 1.6 mil- ning battles. "These verdicts violate fun- weeks has gained nearly doing all this and stopping
lion people, and joined stu- On Friday, the demonstra- damental rights and hence 340,000 followers on its the sightseeing of tourists,"
dents and workers who also tions were mostly peace- people are reacting," main channel in Telegram, he said.
took to the streets during a ful, though police clashed Ramón said. a messaging app. Dozens of flights into and
24-hour general strike. with a few hundred young The separatist movement is A National Court judge on out of the region were
More than 200 people protesters who hurled bot- proud of its history of mostly Friday ordered the closure canceled due to the strike
have been injured and tles, eggs and paint at the peaceful campaigning. of websites linked to the called by pro-indepen-
nearly 100 arrested since gates of the police head- Officials have accused a group. dence unions. Picketers
separatist sentiment surged quarters in the center of the relatively small number of Rights group Amnesty In- also blocked roads to the
on Monday, when the Su- city. Large trash containers agitators of provoking the ternational called on "all border with France and
preme Court sentenced were burned before po- recent riots. authorities" to refrain from elsewhere, sometimes with
to lengthy prison terms lice responded by shooting Spanish authorities suspect contributing to the escala- burning tires.
nine separatist politicians rubber bullets to disperse a secretive new group tion of tensions in the streets Commuter and long-dis-
and activists. The nine had the crowds. called Tsunami Democratic and to respond "propor- tance train services were
led a 2017 push for inde- Albert Ramón, a 43-year- is using encrypted mes- tionally" to outbreaks of vio- significantly reduced, and
pendence that triggered old public servant joining a sages to orchestrate some lence. many shops and factories
Spain's deepest political Friday rally in the northern of the attacks, which have The group said in a state- didn't open for business.q

France: Person arrested in Sept. 11-style attack threat

ism is in French custody on Castaner said the person had expressed allegiance
preliminary terrorism charg- was “in the process of plan- to any extremist group, said
es after threatening a Sept. ning” an attack and seek- the official, who was not
11-style plane hijacking ing to procure weapons. authorized to be publicly
and attack, authorities said A French security official named.
Friday. said that the planning was No other details were im-
Interior Minister Christophe in the early stages, but the mediately made public.
Castaner said the man’s ar- DGSI intelligence service A long-time police admin-
rest late last month marked decided to move in and istrator stabbed four col-
the 60th time that French arrest the man Sept. 26 leagues to death on Oct. 3
authorities have thwarted because he had started a in an incident prosecutors
a potential attack since hunt for weapons. consider a possible terror-
2013. The man is a French resi- ist attack. The attacker was
“An individual who was in- dent in his 20s and had killed by police.
spired by the Sept. 11, 2001 been identified by the DGSI He had become radical-
In this April 11, 2019 file photo, French Interior Minister Christophe attack and planes that de- as expressing Islamic radi- ized, and France’s counter-
Castaner gestures from a police car as he visits the Neuhof stroyed the towers of the cal views, the official said. terrorism prosecutor said he
district of Strasbourg, eastern France. World Trade Center was Investigators are look- had likely been in contact
Associated Press detained by our services,” ing into whether he might with members of an ultra-
By ANGELA CHARLTON PARIS (AP) — A young man Castaner said on France-2 have had accomplices. It conservative Islamic move-
Associated Press flagged for Islamic radical- television Thursday night. was not known whether he ment. q